Rally May Stall For Hong Kong Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Hong Kong stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, collecting more than 640 points or 3.4 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now sits just above the 19,520-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with oil and technology shares expected to lead the markets lower. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks, oil companies and technology issues.

For the day, the index jumped 2.35 points or 1.23 percent to finish at 19,522.89 after trading between 19,345.19 and 19,664.39.

Among the actives, Alibaba Group gathered 0.63 percent, while Alibaba Health Info collected 0.30 percent, ANTA Sports gained 1.21 percent, China Life Insurance climbed 1.82 percent, China Mengniu Dairy rose 0.67 percent, China Resources Land perked 0.89 percent, CITIC increased 1.43 percent, CNOOC improved 1.44 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical added 1.38 percent, Galaxy Entertainment stumbled 2.18 percent, Haier Smart Home jumped 2.03 percent, Hang Lung Properties advanced 0.33 percent, Henderson Land was up 0.23 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas gathered 1.18 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 1.42 percent, JD.com spiked 2.19 percent, Lenovo rose 1.20 percent, Li Ning rallied 2.11 percent, Meituan accelerated 2.15 percent, New World Development advanced 1.63 percent, Nongfu Spring sank 0.71 percent, Techtronic Industries surged 2.80 percent, Xiaomi Corporation soared 2.23 percent, WuXi Biologics strengthened 1.84 percent and Li Auto was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened slightly higher on Thursday but quickly turned lower, spending most of the day in the red before finishing under water.

The Dow sank 68.42 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 43,153.13, while the NASDAQ slumped 172.95 points or 0.89 percent to close at 19,338.29 and the S&P 500 slipped 12.57 points or 0.21 percent to end at 5,937.34.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders took a step back to assess the near-term outlook for the markets following Wednesday's rally, which saw the major averages post their largest daily percentage gains in over two months.

Traders were also digesting a slew of U.S. economic data, including reports on weekly jobless claims, retail sales and import prices.

The data was largely in line with expectations and maintained optimism that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in the first half of this year.

Oil prices fell sharply on Thursday after Israel and Hamas agreed to implement a ceasefire agreement that was drafted and approved by the UN Security Council. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled lower by $1.36 or 1.7 percent at $78.68 a barrel.